United States v. Owens, 71-3322.

• Decision Date: 11 May 1972
• Docket Number: No. 71-3322.,71-3322.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Raymond OWENS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

460 F.2d 467 (1972)

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Raymond OWENS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 71-3322.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

May 11, 1972.

Roland J. Achee, Shreveport, La. (Court-Appointed), for defendant-appellant.

Donald E. Walter, U. S. Atty., Paul Lynch, Asst. U. S. Atty., Shreveport, La., for plaintiff-appellee.

Before WISDOM, GOLDBERG and CLARK, Circuit Judges.

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge:

In this case we are asked to affirm the conviction of a seventeen-year-old boy for aiding and abetting the interstate transportation of forged money orders. His conviction rests on restless pedestals—a combination of irrelevant presumptions and irrational inferences. Unless we conclude that reason and rationality have departed the law, reversal is compelled in this case.

This is an in forma pauperis appeal from a conviction and sentence under the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 5031 et seq. The Bill of Information in this case, which was filed after the execution of a Waiver of Indictment and Jury Trial, charged the defendant, Raymond Owens, with aiding and abetting one Raymond Roberts in the interstate transportation of five falsely-made and forged Nation-Wide Money Orders, in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 2 and 2314. The proof showed that in December of 1970, Raymond Roberts, who resided near the defendant in Shreveport, Louisiana, stole approximately 68 Nation-Wide Money Orders from a store in Patterson, New Jersey. One month later the defendant and his brother, Jerome Owens, appeared before the head cashier at a grocery store in Shreveport. The cashier testified that the defendant told his brother to put the five money orders in the window, and the cashier would cash them for him. The cashier immediately recognized the five money orders as being identical to those presented one week earlier by another person, which had been returned to the store and reported as stolen by the Nation-Wide Check Corporation. Accordingly, the cashier asked the defendant and his brother to wait a few minutes, she then notified the store manager, and the manager called the police. As the police entered the grocery store, the defendant and his brother fled. The district court determined that Raymond Owens was guilty as charged and committed him to the custody of the Attorney General of the United States for the balance of his minority. The defendant on appeal raises the lone contention that the Government failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt an essential element of the alleged offense; that is, that the five money orders which the defendant attempted to cash had been transported in interstate commerce after they had been falsely made and forged. Since the record is totally barren of any direct or circumstantial evidence tending to show that the five money orders in this case were transported interstate in a falsely-made and forged condition, we must reverse the defendant's conviction.

Under 18 U.S.C.A. § 2314, it is unlawful for any person to transport "in interstate or foreign commerce any falsely made, forged, altered, or counterfeited securities or tax stamps, knowing the same to have been falsely made, forged, altered, or counterfeited; . . . "It is obvious that to prove the commission of an offense under this portion of section 2314 the Government must show that the instrument traveled interstate in its forged or altered condition. The difficulty of detecting and proving the locale of the alteration or forgery of the security has engendered a presumption in aid of proof. As early as 1822 Judge Story instructed a jury that there exists a presumption that an instrument was forged where it was first found in its altered state or uttered. United States v. Britton, C.C.D. Mass.1822, 24 Fed.Cas. 1239, 1241 (No. 14,650). Applying this rule to the instant case, a presumption arises that the five money orders which the defendant attempted to utter were falsely made and forged in Louisiana. Of course, as the Government correctly notes, this presumption does not obtain when circumstances reasonably indicate that alteration or forgery occurred outside the jurisdiction where the instrument was first found in its forged state or uttered. See, e. g., Castle v. United States, 5 Cir. 1961, 287 F.2d 657. In the instant case the Government advances several circumstances which allegedly assuage the probative force of this presumption and affirmatively show beyond a reasonable doubt that the five money orders did not make an interstate journey in their pristine state.

First, the Government points to the failure of the defendant to explain where the five money orders were falsely made and forged. At the trial of this case Raymond Owens took the witness stand on his own behalf and denied any participation in the alleged attempt to pass the stolen money orders. The district court found that the defendant "lied through his teeth." The Government contends that the defendant's failure to offer an explanation concerning the facts and circumstances surrounding his acquisition of the money orders justifies an inference that the...